Students And Teachers Al Gore On Education example essay topic

With the importance of education being emphasized in our technologically advancing society, the next president of the United States faces an education system in need of drastic reform to continue to compete in the world market. Education standards between wealthy and poor areas of the country continue to remain drastically unequal in their scope, and it is vividly apparent that education standards must be reformed to ensure all students are offered the same opportunities for academic and economic success. The major question is, which of the two candidates, Al Gore or George W. Bush, has the correct game plan and ideology, to ensure future success for America's children. In comparing Al Gore and George W. Bush on education reform, the two men differ substantially on how education should be overseen in general. Al Gore favors national government supervision of education and its funding, curriculum, and accountability, while George W. Bush is pushing for a laissez faire or "hands off" federal government that would keep control of education in the hands of local government, where it has traditionally been.

While the federal government provides substantial funds to states for education, Bush believes that its role in education should be limited strictly to funding and accountability. While encouraging the distribution of federal funds for education, Bush is adamant that schools, especially those showing academic failure, need to display a notable degree of improvement to qualify for grants from the federal government. Bush believes schools that do not show considerable academic progress should have their funds revoked in the future and must demonstrate substantial progress to have the money reinstated (George W. Bush on Education par. 20).

If revoked, these funds would then be awarded, in the form of a voucher, to the parents of the children enrolled in these failing schools so that they could have the option of transferring their children to either a charter, private, or other public school that would best benefit the child (Education par. 4). This type of redistribution would allow parents to tailor their child's education to best fit any learning difficulties or special talents they wish to highlight and would keep control of education in the hands of the local sector. George W. Bush believes additional national influence over education would only serve to undermine the local efforts to change their school system and that local control allows educators to focus on the particular problems of their individual districts. This ideology has been the traditional path for education to follow and has served as the backbone to which the education system was built upon.

Al Gore, in contrast, is proposing a fifty percent increase in the amount of federal funds allocated towards education with additional national testing and standards to warrant their issuance. He favors increased national influence over education and feels it could produce a greater influence and change than the local and state governments could evoke. In his 5-point plan for keeping states and schools accountable for academic success, Al Gore would enact guidelines and testing to ensure education reform is progressing. This plan contrasts that of Bush by expanding solely on the public education system by funding existing schools and the opening of public charter or alternative schools. For schools that fail to show progress, they would be closed and then reopened under new management. Gore would encourage competition within the public school system by the development of charter schools and vocational schools, which would give students and parents a choice, and would encourage public learning institutions to improve their curriculum to appeal to a wider range of students.

Additionally, a nationwide exam would be implemented to ensure students across the country were learning the same material at the same grade levels and would graduate based on academic progress and not on the basis of age. Bonuses and additional financial assistance would be issued to states that show significant and noteworthy advancements on test scores, so they could fund additional student programs. Last, Gore's plan would create schools to cater to students who need a second chance, after-school programs geared towards academics, and a smaller student to teacher ratio (Al Gore on Education par. 14).

While Al Gore's plan is pioneering in its theory, the public school system is in need of major reform to improve its lagging test scores and poor morale among teachers and students. The tremendous influence that the national government is able to exude over the American population could provide the push that reform has needed for so many years. To raise the expectations from public schools, George W. Bush is looking to implement a school voucher program that would allow parents to choose between public and private schools for their children. Parents of students who are enrolled in failing schools would be given the option to transfer to a different public school or for those parents who believe tutoring or private or charter school would benefit their children, they would receive their share of federal funds in the form of a voucher to assist them financially in the transfer (Ending par. 23). This type of competition for schools to actively recruit their student body would force declining public institutions to improve their educational curriculum to match that of the private schools and would serve to raise the public expectations of schools.

In his October 17th debate in St. Louis, George W. Bush proposed a method to further elevate public expectations when he stated, "I believe accountability encourages parental involvement. We need to say to people that if you cannot meet standards, there has to be a consequence... one of the consequences is we allow parents to have choices", (George par. 1). As students are given choices for their future, more parents will change from the passive role they were taking to becoming more involved and active in their children's education.

This involvement can only prove positive as parents become increasingly aware of the need for improvement and change. Al Gore believes education reform should focus primarily on the public education system and wants to improve our education standards solely in the public school sector. Opposed to the voucher system because he feels removes funds from public schools, Al Gore is proposing instead that schools that fail to remain accountable or improve should be closed as soon as possible and reopened under a new principal and faculty (Al Gore's Plan to Save Our Schools par. 16).

For the students of these failing schools, they will receive additional tutoring after school while the changes occur. To encourage competition in the public school system, Gore is proposing an increase in the number of charter schools available. Charter schools would focus on student bodies with a particular focus, such as discipline problems, special interests, or vocational training. Additionally, Gore would provide funds to economically challenged districts to aid in their search for high-quality educators to fill their schools (Al Gore's Plan to Save Our Schools par. 13).

These funds would give districts leverage by which to compete with other public schools as well as providing a quality education through well-paid, well-educated teachers. While Al Gore concentrates exclusively on improving the public school system, his plan for education reform provides for competition in the public school system and seeks to eliminate schools that fail to display significant improvement academically. As school age children are increasingly being born into dual working families or single parent households, there is greater importance on giving these children the basics necessary to begin their academic careers. George W. Bush places considerable emphasis on eliminating illiteracy by teaching children the basics of reading early on in life. One major focus of the Bush campaign with regards to pre-education is the transfer of the Head Start program from the Department of Health and Human Services to the Department of Education and the implementation of the Reading First program, designed to ensure every child can read by the third grade (Where par. 7).

Head Start was originally designed as a program for pre-reading skills and early learning opportunities (Ending par. 10). Over the years, as the welfare system grew, Head Start became an entitlement for poor and disadvantaged children to provide them with academic help and a chance succeed scholastically. Its transfer to the Department of Education would allow additional funds to be allocated for its research and development, it could be monitored more closely, and its original purpose as a pre-reading and pre-learning program would be reinstated.

Under Bush, 5 billion dollars would be set-aside over a five-year period to establish the Reading First program, an already successful Texas program now in its second year. This program is the centerpiece of the Bush plan for education reform and its goal is to ensure every child in America could read by the third grade. Early diagnosis of potential reading problems, substantial training for teacher instructing children to read, mandatory testing, and after school and tutoring programs would all be a part of this program. Each Head Start program would undergo a rigorous evaluation program to deem if the children enrolled were adequately prepared and for those who failed, their funding would be revoked and placed up for competitive bid (George par. 36). The central objective of Al Gore's pre-education plan is to make pre-school available for all children in the United States through tax credits, subsidies, and the expansion of the Head Start program.

The first of the tax credits would pay up to fifty percent of child care expenses through age 12, and would work in conjunction with the already existing Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit. Another innovative program Gore is proposing is the After-School Tax Credit, an income based credit that would provide up to fifty percent credit for parents of children between the ages of six and sixteen, who enroll them in after-school care (Town par. 8-10). Gore has also stated he would allocate 50 billion dollars over ten years to the states to offer free or subsidized pre-school to every 4-year old child and some 3-year olds.

A major expansion of the enrollment in the Head Start program would enable it to serve at least one million children by the year 2002, and provide educational experiences to disadvantaged children who would not otherwise have them (Al Gore on Education par. 6). Al Gore's central focus of early education reform is targeted towards children and families who are economically disadvantaged and in keeping with his central theme of federal control over education, would implement tax credits and federal subsidies to ensure poor children were given the same opportunities as the average population. Character education is a relatively new theory proposed in the education curriculum. It focuses on the development of a universal system of moral values to be taught to children by the schools.

While character education is becoming a more accepted standard of educating our children, it is not without controversy. Advocates of teaching character education believe it can be discussed using literature and historical examples to teach uncontroversial moral beliefs, such as honesty, sacrifice, and integrity. Opponents of character education feel that because American society is so diverse, compressing moral ethics of right and wrong into a standard curriculum would only serve to alienate some sectors of the American public (Williams 138: 144). Nevertheless, the teaching of character education is an issue for today's voters and the candidates involved. George W. Bush has taken an active stance on the further implementation of character education by stating he will triple federal funds to at least 25 million a year for its development. Currently, federal guidelines limit the funding for character education to only ten states; however, Bush's plan would provide funds to all fifty states (Education Policy par.

8). Furthering its use, Bush would require that character-building lessons be incorporated in after school programs, juvenile boot camps, and in the everyday educational system. Bush makes a strong push for the use of character development in order to return dwindling moral values to our children. Al Gore has based part of his 5-point plan for keeping states and schools accountable for academic success, on the building of character education. In his plan, Gore first seeks to eliminate the outside influences of student failure such as poor teachers and school districts, and then bases the re-building of a successful education system on the implementation of character development and morale builders for both students and teachers (Al Gore on Education par.

14). For those students who fall through the cracks, Gore proposes second-chance schools, which would make character development a large portion of their curriculum. While Gore does not have a specific plan for expanding character development, he has underwritten its use in his general plan to reform public education. With the two candidates for the presidential election are vehemently opposed in their beliefs as to how education reform would be best served, they both agree on the major issues desperately in need of change. Whichever candidate the people choose on Election Day will shape the next generations of American citizens drastically, as the current system continues to crumble and education reform rises to top priority in the national mood.

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